Local Commons and Global Interdependence [Paperback]

This volume offers a synthesis of what is known about very large and very small common-pool resources. Individuals using commons at the global or local level may find themselves in a similar situation. At an international level, states cannot appeal to authoritative hierarchies to enforce agreements they make to cooperate with one another. In some small-scale settings, participants may be just as helpless in calling on distant public officials to monitor and enforce their agreements. Scholars have independently discovered self-organizing regimes which rely on implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules and procedures rather than the command and control of a central authority.

The contributors discuss the possibilities andThis volume offers a synthesis of what is known about very large and very small common-pool resources. Individuals using commons at the global or local level may find themselves in a similar situation. At an international level, states cannot appeal to authoritative hierarchies to enforce agreements they make to cooperate with one another. In some small-scale settings, participants may be just as helpless in calling on distant public officials to monitor and enforce their agreements. Scholars have independently discovered self-organizing regimes which rely on implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules and procedures rather than the command and control of a central authority.

The contributors discuss the possibilities andIntroduction - Robert O Keohane and Elinor Ostrom
PART ONE: THEORETICAL PUZZLES
The Problem of Scale in Human/Environment Relationships - Oran R Young
The Politics of Scope - Duncan Snidal
Endogenous Actors, Heterogeneity and Institutions
Heterogeneity, Linkage and Commons Problems - Lisa L Martin
PART TWO: EVIDENCE FROM THE LABORATORY
Heterogeneities, Information and Conflict lS?